Raiders Wrestlers finish second at Dream Duals at East Valley

Raider wrestling traveled to East Valley last Saturday to take part in the Dream Dual Wrestling Tournament which featured most of the top teams in Eastern Washington.

At the 2B ranks, Liberty-Spangle and Selkirk did not team up to fill out their rosters, instead competing as separate teams to give the field four 2B squads. To fill holes, the coaches of the 4A and 3A schools sent their extra wrestlers for exhibition matches against the 2B competition.

The Raiders defeated Liberty-Spangle 48-4 as Liberty had only two wrestlers by the time they wrestled the Raiders. Sean Waters recorded a first-round pin against Waller Struble.

The Raiders lost by four points to Selkirk, 40-36, but not before Oscar Pakootas pinned Chance Chantry in the first round and Kodie Horn racked up a second-round pin over Mike Weiss.

To round out the day the Raiders defeated Mary Walker-Springdale 48-33. Pakootas wrestled the top ranked 120-pound wrestler at 2B, Tyler Osborn, in a close match that was tied in the third round, but in the end Osborn notched the win 11-7.

Sean Waters recovered from his loss in the Selkirk match to defeat Lane Clifner in a third round.

Orrin Gross wrestled only one match for the day, he was victorious but came away with a injury.

Alexa Hanway and Jazmyne Marchand both wrestled on Mary Walker’s squad and had a great deal of success at the tourney. Hanway was 4-0 for the day with wins over Alyssa Edison of Warden, Kateri Powell of Quincy, and Ashley Start of East Valley. Marchand was 2-1 with one 14-6 victory over Karen Vazquez of Quincy.

Many of the other wrestlers competed in non-scoring exhibition matches. Zack Erickson recorded two wins, and other Raiders recorded wins against competition from Greater Spokane League and Great Northern 2A schools.

“We had a day like we should have for the rest of the year,” commented Raider Head Coach Steve Hood. “We had tough matches for our exprienced wrestlers, facing some competition they will see in the medal rounds at regionals and state.”

Both Hood and Coach Lee Largent wanted to spotlight the “great job” Hillary Carriere, her sister Holly, and Charli Knight did as managers in the tournament, covering stats and fliming for matches in two gyms.

The Raider girls travelled to Quincy last night for a girls’ wrestling mixer.

The whole team will travel to Pateros Saturday for the last league match before the sub-regionals. They’ll face Liberty Bell for the first time since the Okanogan Takedown tourney, and, for the first time this season, will wrestle Northwest Christian. The action starts at 11 a.m. at the Pateros High School gym.